预计阅读本页时间：-
It’s one thing—one huge thing—to decide where you want to focus your year. Most people never really think about it as they work furiously toward… well, they’re not really sure.
广告：个人专属 VPN，独立 IP，无限流量，多机房切换，还可以屏蔽广告和恶意软件，每月最低仅 5 美元
Still, it’s another thing entirely to actually spend your time focusing—day in and day out—on where you’ve decided to focus.
This challenge took me a little by surprise.
I had pressed that FIND ME button and flown up in the air, hovering over my life with a bird’s-eye view. I had explored different sides of me—actor, doctor, rabbi, investment manager—and had come to the revelation that I could integrate all these sides while remaining a consultant. In fact, integrating them would make me a better, more valuable consultant. I just had to change how I was consulting so that I could fully express my strengths, weaknesses, differences, and passions.
And I descended back to earth in a slightly different location, one more suited to who I was, who I chose to be. A location from which I could make better—more focused, deliberate, profitable, and meaningful—use of my time. I was thrilled, having found a home that fit, having articulated areas of focus that I would enjoy and at which I would excel.
Then came Monday morning.
Somehow, even though I had tremendous clarity, I still kept doing everything I was doing beforehand. I kept selling the same projects. I kept calling other consultants to do the work with, and for, me. I kept repeating the patterns that would keep me right where I was, instead of move me to where I planned on going.
I tried to change direction. I thought about it. One week, I spent a few hours trying to write an article. But it didn’t go anywhere and I got involved in other work, work I considered at the time to be “real” work, and I gave up.
A few months later, when I was no further along in my plan, I realized that I needed a system. Something that would help me be disciplined and methodical about where I spent my time.
I looked at all sorts of time management systems but they were either too complicated, too time consuming to implement, or too focused on getting everything done.
But that was already my problem: I was trying to get everything done and, in the end, the only things I got done were the things that screamed the loudest.
Over time, I developed my own system to keep myself centered on my areas of focus and to help me ignore the things that were distracting me. So that with each step I took—each action I chose, each call I made, each time I sat at my computer—I moved further in the direction I had set out for my career and my life.
A daily plan helped me tremendously. I structured my day so it supported me in becoming the kind of consultant I wanted to become. That meant making explicit decisions, ahead of time, about where I would spend my time and where I wouldn’t. It meant lists and to-dos—but not too many—and a calendar that truly reflected who I was and what I was trying to accomplish. And it meant gentle, but consistent, reminders to stay on track.
Because doing work that matters is much harder than doing work that doesn’t. And the desire to escape from hard, meaningful work is ever-present. So it helps to have some structure—not so much that it gets in the way, but enough so you keep moving forward deliberately and intentionally.
Each morning, I ask myself some questions: Am I prepared for this day? Prepared to make it a successful, productive day? Have I thought about it? Planned for it? Anticipated the risks that might take me off track? Will my plan for this day keep me focused on what my year is about?
The chapters in this section will guide you to prepare for—and live—each day so you can answer those questions with a resounding “Yes!” After considering the importance of looking ahead, we’ll explore the best way to create a plan for what to do based on your annual focus, while consciously choosing what not to do so you don’t get distracted. We’ll look at how to use your calendar to ensure you actually get all your to-dos done. And we’ll see how a short beep and a few minutes in the evening can help you stay on track. Finally, we’ll pull it all together in the 18-minute plan itself, your key to getting the right things done each day.
This section will pave your path to a fulfilling day that brings you one strong step closer to a fulfilling year.
